


A second chance

by Dahlia_Rose_83



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 11:11:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1646519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dahlia_Rose_83/pseuds/Dahlia_Rose_83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in Season four, after Elena killed the hunter. Bonnie has found a way to save Elena, but as always the Salvatore Brothers can`t agree on anything. And to make matters worse, Jeremy conspires with Damon. With unexpected results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A second chance

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago. Was originally intended as a Delena fic, but then turned into a Dalaric one.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don`t own Vampire Diaries. If I did, Ric would have never died.

A second chance

Damon parked his car in front of the Gilbert house and exchanged a quick glance with his brother, before getting out. Stefan followed him up the stairs, where Jeremy was waiting in front of the open door. He seemed to have recovered pretty well, considering that his sister had slit his throat only hours ago. Maybe he was somewhat used to dying and getting resurrected by now. 

He greeted the brothers with a nod and held the door open for them. Bonnie, who had asked them to come over, was waiting in the living room. "Okay Bonnie, what is this all about? You said you`ve found a way to help Elena." Stefan cut straight to the point, throwing a dark glance at his brother while he spoke. "Hey, it´s not my fault." the elder Salvatore replied indignantly. "You`re the one who made a deal with Klaus, leaving me in the dark." 

Okay, maybe he shouldn`t have told Elena to kill that hunter, but it really wasn`t his fault. He`d never done that if Stefan had just told him what he knew, instead of doing his own thing with Klaus. They couldn`t change that now. They just had to deal with it. Which meant finding out how to break that stupid curse. After rescuing Elena from Klaus`s clutches of course. The Original claimed to have locked her away for her own safety. Damon didn`t believe that for a second. 

"Klaus didn`t leave me a choice!" protested Stefan, startling Damon out of his thoughts and bringing him back to the present. Bonnie intervened before he had the chance to formulate an answer. "That doesn`t matter anymore. I`ve found a way to help Elena." she repeated what she had already told Stefan on the phone. "If you have a plan on how to free her, I`m all ears. We`ll need a distraction for Klaus, though. I suggest vampire Barbie. Works every time." Damon piped in. 

"I`m not talking about freeing Elena. I`ve found a way to make her human again. Without the cure." Stunned silence followed Bonnie`s words. Damon was the first to recover. "How?" "There`s a spell." the witch started to explain, but the older Salvatore cut her off. "I thought you lost your powers. Wasn`t there something about the ghosts being mad at you?" 

Bonnie gave him a dark look. "Shane is helping me." she explained. "Ohhh Professor creepy, who`s obsessed with witches." Damon mocked. He just couldn`t help himself, even if it was never a good idea to anger a witch. He should have learned that by now. Maybe he was a little masochistic after all. Bonnie gave him her death stare and he already waited for the all too familiar pain in his head. But it didn`t come. Witchy`s restraint was quite impressive, he had to give her that. 

"Shane has an immense knowledge. Not only of witches. And unlike you, he helps when he can." she spat. Damon only smiled, while Stefan tried to mediate. "Hey, we`re all on the same side here. Let`s not fight, okay." The older vampire rolled his eyes. Saint Stefan, always the voice of reason. He kept that thought to himself though. At least for now. 

"So Bonnie, tell us about this spell." asked the younger of the Salvatores. "It`s a time-travel spell. I can send one of you back in time." the witch explained. "Wow, does your professor hide a time-machine in his basement?" Damon asked with a grin. Strangely enough no one seemed to share his humor. Boring lot. Alaric would have laughed. He was sure of it. Or at least offered a chuckle.

"Damon, please be serious for once. This is about Elena after all." Stefan pleaded, giving him a look that silenced the older vampire immediately. He hated it when Stefan gave him the wounded puppy look. "Like I said, it´s a spell." Bonnie repeated. "It takes a lot of strength. I can only send one person back. And only for a short amount of time." 

"How long?" Stefan asked. The witch shrugged. "I`m not sure. Maybe an hour. Possibly less." she guessed. "And how far back can you send us?" The question came from Damon. "About half a year." 

Again there was silence. Damon started plotting, thinking of ways to use the spell. But Stefan was quicker. "If you could send me back to the night Elena and Matt drove off the bridge, I can prevent the accident. All I have to do is get Rebekka off the street." 

"Yeah and if you fail, nothing`s going to change. Unless you decide to save Elena this time, instead of the quarterback." was Damon`s snarky reply. "Do you have a better idea?" his brother snapped. The older one didn`t reply. Instead he looked at Bonnie. 

"How exactly does this work?" She raised an eyebrow, seemingly not sure if he really wanted to know, or if he`d just mock her again. But she answered anyway. "I`m reciting the spell. Stefan has to concentrate on the time and place he wants to be sent to. I can`t help with that. It`s all up to you. This will canalize my power. You have to hold it while I recite the spell." She explained, looking directly at Stefan while she pulled something out of her jacket. 

"That`s a stone." Damon stated flatly, looking at the dark stone in her hand. It had the size of a baseball and looked quite ordinary. "It is a stone," the witch conceded, "but not an ordinary one. The blood of a very old and powerful witch is encased in this stone." 

"And that helps you travel back in time?" Damon asked sceptically. "It will send Stefan back in time, so he can prevent the accident." the witch clarified. "Really? When did we decide that? I thought you people are all for teamwork and finding solutions together." he snarked. "You didn`t voice an idea. And my plan is good." Stefan insisted. Damon raised an eyebrow. "Yes, a great plan. You only have to take out two Originals all by yourself. Shouldn`t be a problem." he said sarcastically. 

"And what would you propose?" Stefan asked, humoring him. "Why, how nice of you to ask, little brother." Damon smirked. "I`d prevent the witches from opening Esther`s coffin. Much easier to do and just as effective." he explained. Just like he expected, Stefan didn`t understand his brilliant plan. "How does that save Elena?" he asked dumbly. "It`s really easy. Esther stays in her coffin, where she belongs, which means she can`t turn Ric into a psychotic vampire-killer. Klaus won`t get staked and no-one will have any reason to kill Elena. At least not more than usually." 

Also it had the bonus that Ric wouldn`t die, but Damon didn`t mention that. The others didn`t need to know how much he missed his best friend. Stefan looked thoughtful, but Bonnie didn`t even consider his plan. "Stefan goes. That`s my last word." she decided. Damon was pretty sure she only did it to spite him. She couldn`t stand him and used every chance she got to show it. 

"But my plan is way better." he insisted, slowly getting angry. Not about to be swayed the witch repeated: "Stefan goes. No more discussions. I`ll prepare everything now and in about half an hour we`re ready to start. You can stay or leave. I don`t care." With that she dismissed Damon, turning away from him to place candles all over the room. 

Damon stared at her for a second, before storming out of the house, closing the door with a loud bang. It took all of his self-restraint not to go back inside and snap that stupid witches neck. Almost vibrating with anger he leaned onto the railing and looked up at the stars. 

Not a minute after his melodramatic departure he heard someone following him. Expecting Stefan he didn`t bother turning around and was quite surprised when Jeremy appeared next to him. They stood in silence for a while, until Jeremy whispered. "Do you think we could save Alaric, if the coffin is never opened? Or will be become a psychotic killer anyway?" Damon looked at him in surprise. He`d expected a lot, but not that. 

"We can save him. I`m sure we can." he answered just as quietly, looking back at the stars. He hadn`t done nearly enough for Ric when he still had the chance. Had only realized how much the hunter meant to him when it was already too late. If he`d get another shot he would do anything to save his friend. Bonnie wasn`t the only witch on this planet. There were plenty of others. One of them would be able to help Ric. He was sure of it. 

"Okay." Jeremy murmured suddenly, startling him out of his thoughts. Out of the corner of his eye Damon saw him leave the porch and fumble around under the stairs. Before he could ask the teenager what the hell he was doing, Jeremy returned to his side, showing him a stone. "That one looks pretty much like Bonnie`s, don`t you think?" he asked. Damon raised an eyebrow. "I guess." he nodded, still not sure where this was going. 

"You distract them, while I switch the stones. Bonnie said she only recites the spell. So if Stefan has this stone and you have the real one..." 

"..then she sends me back instead of him." Damon finished, clearly impressed by how cunning Elena`s little brother could be. A slow smile spread over his features. "I like that plan. Could almost be one of mine." Jeremy grimaced at his words. "That`s not exactly a compliment. And I hate doing this behind Bonnie´s back, but... But if there is a chance, to save not only Elena, but Alaric as well, I want to take it." he stated, turning back to the door. Damon trailed after him, mumbling: "That was a compliment." petulantly. 

The preparations seemed to be almost done. The candles were burning and Bonnie sat in the middle of the room with her eyes closed. Damon spotted the stone lying on the table. He gave Jeremy an imperceptible nod, before grabbing Stefan`s arm and turning him, so that his back was to the table. 

"Come on Stefan, rethink this. My plan is way better and you know it." Stefan shoved him away, clearly annoyed. "Just stop it Damon. Bonnie has made her decision. I will do it. The least you could do is wish me luck." "You`ll need luck." Damon muttered darkly, just as the witch stated: "I`m ready." Damon pouted and stormed over to the couch. "Stefan, take the stone and concentrate real hard on the time and place you want to go." Bonnie instructed. 

Stefan turned towards the table, but Jeremy was quicker and handed him the stone. Stefan gave him a smile. "Thanks. And don`t worry. It`s going to work." Turning away again, neither he nor Bonnie noticed the guilty look on the teen`s face. Just like neither noticed him passing the real stone on to Damon. Stefan gave Bonnie a nod and she started reciting the spell. 

Her voice got louder by the minute. A sudden gust of wind swept through the room, making the candles flicker. There was a loud, thundering noise and Jeremy thought he felt the earth move beneath his feet. Then there was a loud bang and the candles flickered out. For a few seconds it was eerily quiet. Then Jeremy switched the light back on. Bonnie stared at Stefan in shock. "It didn`t work." she whispered dismayed. 

"It did work." Jeremy corrected, pointing to the empty spot on the couch, where Damon had been only seconds before. "I switched the stones, so you would send Damon back." he confessed. Bonnie`s disbelieving and hurt look cut through him like a knife. He only hoped he hadn`t betrayed her for nothing.

####

For a second Damon`s world turned upside down, dizziness washed over him and he felt himself falling. Then all of a sudden the feeling stopped and he once again stood on solid ground. He opened his eyes, not really knowing when he`d closed them and blinked against the sudden sunlight. Looking around he realized that it had actually worked. 

Slowly he walked towards the lone house, noticing the woman working in the garden. She was alone and wasn`t it ironic that luck should be on his side now of all times. He didn`t like what he was about to do, but it was the easiest way. The only way really, he reasoned. 

He moved before he had too much time to think about it. Before the woman had time to notice him. The vampire was behind her in seconds, not giving her any chance to react. Her neck broke with a resounding crack that made him flinch. Guiltily he looked down at the body of Bonnie`s dead mother, that was hanging limply in his arms. He swallowed past the lump in his throat, knowing he just did what he had to do. Bonnie would survive without her mother. Had done so for years now. Ric was more important. For all of them. 

Now that the second Benett witch was dead, there was no way to open the damn coffin. And with a little luck no-one would ever know what he`d done. He would just have to be careful of the ghosts of the witches. He was already on their shit list and now he`d given them all the more reason to hate him. But what could they really do? 

He shrugged the thought off, lifting the dead body into his arms and running to a canyon not far away, where he dumped the body without a second glance. Should someone find her, which he highly doubted, it would look like an accident. At least that´s what he hoped. 

Without giving it too much thought he sped back towards the street, where he pulled out his phone and dialled Stefan`s number. He breathed a sigh of relief when his brother didn`t pick up. Damon left a quick message, saying that he`d met up with a witch from his past, who owed him a favour. He explained that the witch had warned him, never to open that coffin, since what was inside would surely kill them all and that the death of an original brought on the death of that originals whole bloodline. Which meant they couldn`t kill Klaus. 

He had just put the phone back into his pocket when suddenly the ground started shaking. It got darker by the second and he could hear the rumble of thunder. The vampire wondered if the dead witches had found a way to get back at him after all, when he felt the dizziness and his world turned upside down again. He closed his eyes and felt himself falling once more. 

####

Slowly Damon opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings, surprised to find himself comfortably nestled in his own bed. The morning sun filtered through the window, casting shadows on the floor. He could hear Stefan rummaging around in the kitchen, talking to Elena, just as the smell of coffee and freshly baked pancakes reached his nostrils. And there was someone in his bathroom. 

Damon sat up just in time to see Alaric emerge from his bathroom, clad only in a pair of jeans, his hair slightly damp. He pulled on a shirt and stopped about a foot away from the bed, mock glaring at the dark haired vampire. "Damon, you`re still in bed!" Said vampire just stared at him, trying to comprehend what the hell was going on. His heart burst with joy at seeing Ric alive, but what was the teacher doing in his bathroom? 

Alaric didn`t seem to notice his confusion, he just kept on talking. "I know you don`t want to help set up the party, but you promised. I`m not watching the kids on my own." Damon was still staring, noticing with surprise the sly smile that spread across the teacher`s face. Ric came closer and whispered: "I promise I`ll reward you later." 

He grinned at Damon´s dumbfounded look, before continuing. "Now up with you! I`ll go down for breakfast. And I`m expecting to see you dressed and ready to go by the time I`ve finished my coffee." He skipped out of the room, way too fast for a mere human, leaving a completely confused vampire behind. What the hell was going on? 

Realizing that he wasn`t going to get any answers just lying around he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was just about to stand up, when a wave of pain hit him, making him fall back on the bed. Groaning he clutched his head, the pain more excruciating than anything Bonnie had ever done to him. It felt like his head would explode. And suddenly pictures flickered before his eyes, small scenes, fitting slowly together and he started to realize that his actions had altered the present more than he thought. 

First he saw himself and Stefan agreeing on a peace treaty with Klaus and Elijah and finally handing over Esther`s coffin. Elijah promised to make sure that Klaus would stick to their agreement, along with his other siblings. Damon didn`t believe him for a second. They`d already seen how reliable Elijah was when it came to his family. 

But he didn`t have much time to ponder the weird Mikkaelson family. There were other problems that needed his attention. A mysterious killer on the rampage to be exact. It didn`t take them long to figure out that Alaric was said killer. 

Since Bonnie wasn`t much of a help (big surprise there), Damon and Jeremy drove to New York. Damon knew a witch back there, who still owed him a favour. Unfortunately she was dead by now, which was why he needed baby Gilbert, who to his own surprise, wasn`t all that bad company. Of course the witch had to be bitchy and almost told Jeremy what Damon had done to Bonnie`s mum. 

It took all of his persuasion to shut her up. In the end she told them what they wanted to know, although she warned Damon that the witches would get their revenge sooner or later. He ignored her. After all he got what he wanted. 

Not that Ric was happy about the solution. Far from it in fact. He openly refused and neither Elena and Jeremy`s pleading and begging, nor endless discussions with Stefan and Caroline could sway him. It took a night-long talk, in which Damon drunkenly poured his heart out to finally change his mind. Sighing the hunter held up his hands in the end and grumbled: "Okay, I give up. You win. I guess I´ll really be of more use as a vampire than locked away in some mental institution." 

They left it up to him to decide who should turn him and Damon was taken aback when Alaric chose him. Ric explained that the choice was an easy one, since he was after all the only one Damon had ever really loved, referring to their drunken talk. The dark haired vampire scoffed that you couldn`t believe a thing he said when he was drunk and that he hadn`t meant it like that at all, but he could see that Ric didn`t believe his excuse. 

Strangely enough he didn`t really mind his friend knowing of his true feelings, even if things were a little weird at first. Ric knew him better than anyone else and was probably the only one who really understood him. 

The history teacher adapted to his new life pretty quickly, thanks to the combined help of Stefan, Caroline and mostly Damon, who despite his sarcastic comments proved to be a really decent mentor. 

Things didn`t really change much at first. They still had drinks at the Grill and hunted down evil vampires together, Ric still stayed at the Gilbert house and continued working as a history teacher. And if Damon noticed Ric watching him more often than usual or Ric`s gaze lingering on his lips, then he didn`t really think anything of it. 

Until one night, when they were sitting in the boarding house library and Ric suddenly kissed him, before admitting that he`d been thinking about doing that for quite some time now. Damon dove in for another kiss, which quickly turned into a heated make out session. When Stefan and Elena walked in on them a short while later, Alaric looked sheepish, but he didn`t push Damon away and he didn`t pretend nothing had happened. 

Both vampires were surprised at the reaction they got from Elena and Stefan. The two of them only shared a look and then told them it was about time. As it turned out, no-one was really surprised about Damon and Ric getting together. Apparently their 'subtle flirting', as Caroline called it, had been grating on everyone’s nerves. Jeremy and Tyler even had a bet going on when they would finally admit their feelings for each other. Damon suggested spiking wolf boy’s coffee with vervain or wolfsbane, but Ric talked him out of it. 

All in all their relationship was accepted without much difficulty. Stefan seemed especially glad that his brother had found happiness and finally stayed away from Elena. 

But Mystic Falls wouldn`t be what it was if there wasn`t the next crisis already lurking around the corner. Klaus snapped and kidnapped Elena, leading to a chase that lasted almost a week and ended with the death of Klaus' brother Finn. Since they couldn`t kill Klaus and also had no other idea how to get rid of him there was another peace treaty. This time courtesy of Caroline and Rebekka, who hated each other with a passion, but worked together surprisingly well when it came down to it. 

Not really surprising anyone Matt discovered his feelings for Rebekka, who was at least trying to play nice to make him happy. And even Damon had to admit that it was a good way to keep the blonde original on their side. She stayed behind when Klaus left Mystic Falls along with his two remaining brothers. According to Rebekka he was now terrorizing New Orleans. However long that might last. 

Apart from that it had been pretty quiet the last few weeks. While everyone was a little on edge, waiting for the next crisis to strike, for Klaus to return or some other evil to arise, they had agreed to enjoy the peace while it lasted. 

Slowly the stream of memories ended and with it the pain in his head. Damon sat up and breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly a smile spread across his face. Shaking his head he finally got up and hurried to get dressed. He really couldn`t leave poor Alaric alone with the kids, who by now had probably already started decorating the school`s gym for the nightly party, all under Caroline`s watchful eye. 

After one last look into the mirror Damon left his room and walked downstairs, whistling a low tune. He would enjoy breakfast with his family and then drive to school to spend the day with his hot boyfriend. Alaric had surely smuggled a bottle of Bourbon into the school, which they would end up downing later, when the kids got too annoying. And once they got home tonight he would hold Ric to that promise, to reward him for helping with the stupid school dance. 

As he entered the kitchen and met Ric`s eyes across the table, Damon mused that you didn`t get a second chance very often, but when you did life could end up being really damn good.


End file.
